“Taiwan’s Pegatron is expecting to grow a whopping 40 percent in 2013. Insiders speaking with China Times have stated that the dramatic increase is directly due to their growing partnership with Apple,” Jack Purcher reports for Patently Apple.

“Pegatron, the one-time Asus spinoff, currently has three plants manufacturing the iPhone and iPad mini,” Purcher reports. “Pegatron is expected to expand iPhone and iPad mini manufacturing to four additional plants in 2013.”

This “MDN commentator” said iPad mini would be very successful, and that Apple would have a difficult time predicting the level of success (and manufacturing needs for the mix of all iPad models) if they released it before the holiday season.

In fact, I think the 8-inch iPad is what Apple would have released initially, if the technology in 2010 would have allowed it to exist and retail for under $500. Design is always an exercise in compromise, and that first iPad model was the best design possible in early 2010, but NOT in late 2012.

Right here! I said Apple would never do it. When they announced it, I didn’t think it would flop per se, but I really didn’t see the attraction to it.

I said the same thing with the original iPad.

Then when they announced it, and talked about how it wasn’t 7″ and how it used the same resolution as the iPad 2, I thought I’d give it a chance. I waited until it was released, and got my hands on one. I had to have one.

This mirrors almost exactly what I thought about the original iPad. I’ve gotten every model of the iPad ever since, including the mini and the iPad 4.

The mini is my favorite by far, and for Christmas, I got one for my girlfriend.

Mobile is the new playground. And if you want to be at the forefront of it, you need to develop products that will enable you to achieve that aim.

The iPad mini being more affordable than the iPad is particularly suitable as a second mobile device after the iPad for the kids to use both at home and in an educational environment.

Also it’s slim, light and chic, perfect to slip into a ladies purse where before the iPad would have made an awkward fit not to mention weigh much more, reducing mobility. I’m not surprised the mini has caught on the way it has – multitudes of people were just waiting for the opportunity to join the Apple universe on a cheaper platform which the mini addresses.

And lastly the mini retains the rich app environment that is present in the iPad market further strengthening its appeal. No other tablet manufacturer has anything even close to it.

You (nor anyone outside Ive’s secret design team) know what apple hs “tried. Though it is a pretty good guess they have tried nearly everything.

Cramming that many pixels into a screen that small brings limited benefits and a huge overhead (the same overhead the retina iPads no bear)
That increased load would require considerably more CPU & GPU resources (4X the pixels) more heat more battery more weight…. ect. All for a limited benefit (because of the mini’s smaller screen size it’s normal pixel density is about 1/3 higher than the iPad2’s is (and a doubled screen on the mini would go far beyond “retina” resulting in mostly useless (invisible) resolution and costing lots of resources for little benefit.

The whole “retina iPad is coming this spring” is just a google astroturfing tactic to attempt to delay the purchases of iPad mini’s (fairly unsuccessfully if the estimated sales numbers are to be believed)

My memory isn’t perfect, but I’m damned sure that BLN was one of the most forthright when it came to claiming that Apple would never, ever produce an iPad Mini, that there was no need for one, and no market for one.
This was repeated over and over again, every time the subject came up.
To which I always answered that it would be the perfect pocketable devise for travel and navigation, due to its screen size, and I would definitely have one sooner or later.
Well, BLN seems to have conveniently changed his tune, and forgotten everything he ever said about it, while my opinion has been clearly vindicated.
So ‘nyah